Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the relation between clinical variables and patients' satisfaction with their new removable partial dentures. Fifty-three patients (35 females: mean age: 58.8 and 18 males: mean age: 60.5 years) completed the clinical questionnaire and underwent the psychometric measurements regarding various aspects of their new removable partial dentures using visual analogue scales (VAS). The clinical questionnaire concerned gender, age, denture arch (maxilla or mandible), and years of denture experience. VAS items were aesthetic, pain, comfort, stability, speaking, eating, and general satisfaction. Patients expressed less satisfaction with comfort, aesthetic, and speaking items of their dentures than stability and pain items, suggesting that the patients were likely to remain unsatisfied regarding these three items even though the dentists judged the dentures functioned well. Female patients expressed significantly less satisfaction with all VAS items of their dentures than males. The younger patients tended to express less satisfaction with the eating item of their dentures than the older patients.
